New fines on a car park - no signage, enforceable?

Bloodstained_Hurricane

Hi

I frequent a car park (for the park-and-ride) for work near where I live, and at work they have sent an email around informing us they are introducing charges. Prior to this, it was completely free.

The problem is that you can only pay for it by scanning a card on a bus, which aren't always there. It could be a 10 minute wait. There has also been no effort to add ANY signage on the car park to say there is now a charge. It is a council owned car park, but i'm just curious that they can't prove I work anywhere and am informed about the charges.

If I get a warning/fine in the post, do I have any recourse to fight it? I know council charges are different to private companies, but this seems a bit too unclear and unprepared to be enforceable.

Thanks in advance

pappa_golf

so are you intending to use the park and RIDE or are you just parking up and walking to your local works?

Bloodstained_Hurricane

Just parking. The car park was free to use even if you weren't riding for about 3 months. Then all of a sudden they introduce a charge to just park. The drivers were unaware of the change on the day it rolled out. I park up and walk to work, I only use the bus to scan my payment card.

pappa_golf

what you are doing is NOT what the system was designed for , the upkeep and security of the car park is paid for by park and ride users , I think you should park elsewhere and pay for your daily parking like most honest people do ,

Bloodstained_Hurricane

thats a nice opinion there but not what i'm asking at all

pappa_golf

this forum is to assist people that have wrongly been issued tickets , not to assist people with cheating and breaking laws , please go and ask your question on mumsnet , or even ask a daily mail reader

I,m out!

Coupon-mad

Bloodstained_Hurricane wrote: »

Just parking. The car park was free to use even if you weren't riding for about 3 months. Then all of a sudden they introduce a charge to just park. The drivers were unaware of the change on the day it rolled out. I park up and walk to work, I only use the bus to scan my payment card.

Ask the Council for the Parking Places Order and any changes made to it. You can then see what the actual restrictions and contraventions are - or not. You can only contravene an Order, not a sign which merely communicates the Order.

It's a public document - you are allowed to request a copy of any Order for any Council road or car park.

Bloodstained_Hurricane

Thank you Coupon Mad, I will indeed do that. My work place and the council had an agreement of employee parking until a month or so ago, fines recently came in. They don't have cctv covering the whole parking area so it would be good to see how they go about monitoring cars/ drivers/ who has paid etc. Cheers

Coupon-mad

They aren't trying to use ANPR to issue fines by post, are they?

Bloodstained_Hurricane

Sorry man couldn't tell you. I mean I've heard no actual information about the company/ fines/ amounts etc, the only info we have is that the car park now costs a small fee to park there, and during the transfer period we get 2 warnings before any fines get sent out. In all honesty, it all seems a little unthought out and rushed, no real thought into how to implement the charges. I mean, you don't enter your car reg anywhere, cctv doesn't cover the whole grounds, and the only way to pay is via the bus. I'm not saying it's a scam but something seems a little odd about this. If I get anything in the post because I didn't pay, I'll let you know!

Half_way

is this a council car park, or private?
who is threatening tickets?